The Watcher in the Woods
The Watcher in the Woods
| 21 October 2017 (USA)

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Mrs. Aylwood is a distraught mother since her daughter, Karen, vanished in the English countryside over 20 years ago. When the Carstairs family move into the Aylwood manor for the summer, strange occurrences begin to unnerve the family and Jan begins to suspect that they are linked to Karen's disappearance. As Jan unravels the dark past hidden by the townspeople, she delves further into the mystery and deeper into danger, but now it might be too late to escape the Watcher in the Woods.

Reviews
Dotbankey A lot of fun.
AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
TheLittleSongbird Saw 'The Watcher in the Woods', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre), being a fan of Anjelica Huston and being intrigued by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.Giving 'The Watcher in the Woods' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Watcher in the Woods' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings by quite some way.'The Watcher in the Woods's' first half in particularly has a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue. Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere. The setting is effectively spooky and the acting was better than average, mysterious Anjelica Huston and fetching Tallulah Evans being good even. There are enough spooky, dark and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half especially does intrigue.However, the final act is on the silly side, trying to take some of the events and tone at face value and with a straight face was somewhat hard. The ending is prematurely easily foreseeable and comes over in a contrived fashion.Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a fair bit of cheese ad blandness going on and some of the approach to the material is on the tame side for such a haunting story that can be dark. Overall, much better than expected but could have been better. 6/10 Bethany Cox
nightroses "Watcher in the Woods" original 1980 film was spooky and dark. I've not seen it for a long time now, since I was a kid, but it made an impression on me. Now I had to see the 2017 remake of the classic paranormal film. The "Watcher in the Woods" 2017 remake was so different like chocolate and cheese. There was nothing spooky, or anything mysterious. The fact it was often set at night doesn't give it moodiness alone. There was that enormous tree with a secret door that opened like a big mouth. The film looked more like a cheap fantasy with the most wooden acting I've ever seen. There wasn't a Welsh accent anywhere despite it being set in Wales. The American family were quite dull and the teenage girl was pretty obnoxious at the beginning. The poor little sister having to wear the same tight plaits in her hair, all the time, and didn't take them out at night. She appeared unenthusiastic and bored, in comparison to the other little sister of the 1980 film. The most spookiest bit of the 2017 film was unintentional as Anjelica Huston was playing Morticia Addams here still and her daughter Karen looked a bit like Wednesday' s Christina Ricci. The overall film was so bland and really weak.
the_doofy It is very very difficult to find a horror movie that is rated PG and creeps out the entire audience, but this is what U get with this film.Its a low budget deal with C acting in some characters and B+ in others. The music is done very well. Camera work was quite good. Suspense was there. The story line and plot is done well enough that my wife and I were kept engrossed. I can predict typical horror fans will down grade this gem for lack of blood, body counts, smoking/pot, macabre humor, and so on. Its a real tribute to all involved with this movie that it does not have many of the basic elements a modern horror movie of today generally has. I'm sure many viewers will decide that such a movie cannot even be classified as horror. And yet an honest viewer is forced to check the box marked 'spooky'.Ending is both predictable and original.
mshavzin Its a bit of mystery, a bit of horror, and a bit of romance. its aimed for the youngsters, but the story, acting, and writing are top notch. Of course if you were hoping for actual horror, then move along. No body parts here. If you're looking for family fun, enjoy. One nice thing is that it really just entertains the kids, without piling on the political correctness, or some preachy message that ruins the fun. I recommend this. I will say again, viewers like Mr Ectoplasma who watch mostly only horro films, and like the trappings of horror will not be happy. This is an adventure story at heart, not a horror tale. In horror you feel the hoplesness as the hero/heroine is completely unable to do anything to save herself or others. This has a very different tone. Jan is smart, capable, and the scenery is there to show you the beauty of the English countryside, not to make you frightened or unsettled. Its only scary sometimes. I LIKED this approach and so will many others. But horror film lovers will be disappointed. One more time, I do NOT like horror. I have always found it kind of stupid. People who think like I do will enjoy this story. People who like by the book horror will NOT.